London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Woolwich 1918
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health 1918
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The mortality per cent of notifications was 2.3, compared with
1.4 and 1.8 in the two preceding years.
12 cases were removed to the Fever Hospital on the
certificate of the Medical Officer of Health that isolation was
necessary, compared with 10 in 1916 and 45 in 1917.
27. The following table gives the number of deaths and deathrates from measles for the past three years, and five preceding quinquennia in each parish and the death-rate in London:-
| Year | Woolwich | Plumstead | Eltham | The Borough | London | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aver. No. | Rate | Aver. No. | Rate | Aver. No. | Rate | Aver. No, | Rate | Rate. | |
| 1891-5 | 20 | 0.49 | 29 | 0.51 | Not recorded | 49 | 0.51 | 0.59 | |
| 1896-1900 | 34 | 0.81 | 36 | 0.57 | Not recorded | 70 | 0.67 | 0.57 | |
| 1901-5 | 9 | 0.22 | 15 | 0.22 | 1 | 0.13 | 26 | 0.21 | 0.44 |
| 1906-10 | 17 | 0.43 | 18 | 0.23 | 3 | 0.20 | 37 | 0.30 | 0.40 |
| 1911-15 | 12 | 0.30 | 14 | 0.19 | 2 | 0.13 | 27 | 0.21 | 0.42 |
| 1916 | 8 | 0.24 | 15 | 0.19 | — | — | 23 | 0.17 | 0.19 |
| 1917 | 13 | 0.39 | 11 | 0.16 | 7 | 0.23 | 31 | 0.21 | 0.48 |
| 1918 | 13 | 0.39 | 7 | 0.09 | 1 | 0.03 | 21 | 0.14 | 0.42 |
The actual reduction in Measles mortality is not so large
as appears from the above table, owing to the fact that the
falling birth rate has caused a diminution in the number of
children living under five years, but it is very satisfactory to
find that the death rate is still falling.
The following table, giving the deaths and death-rates per 1,000 births, shows the reduction more nearly but not sufficiently favourably:-
| No. | Rate | |
|---|---|---|
| 1891-95 (average) | 40 | 14.7 |
| 1896-1900 | 70 | 20.9 |
| 1901-05 | 26 | 7.2 |
| 1906-10 | 37 | 11.8 |
| 1911-15 | 27 | 9.8 |
| 1916 | 23 | 7.5 |
| 1917 | 31 | 11.5 |
| 1918 | 21 | 8.1 |
It appears from these tables that, whereas from 18911900
Woolwich had a somewhat higher measles' mortality than
London, since that date the measles death-rate has greatly diminished,
and diminished much more in Woolwich than in London.
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